PS 2706 
.H3 
Copy 1 



i(e(iolledtion^ 




OF 



JAPES WPOMB lim. 

. . . BY . . . 

Major Ridge^vay. 



COPYRIGHTED. 



Harrison^ Ohio* 
i902. 



^1 



'm^ 



OI^ 



Jarries Wt]itG0iT|b Riley 



MAJOR EIDGEWAY. 



COPYRIGHTED. 

HARRISON, OHIO. 
1902. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

JUL, 15 1902 

COPVRIQHT ENTRY 


CLABg" lefeC No. 
COPY B. 



,H3 



;>^ 



X 



Index of Contents. 

Page. 

Inscription 3 

Introduction 4 

The Poet's Nativity 5 

Riley's Boyhood 10 

The ''Master Poet" 16 

Riley's First Book 19 

He Affects Journalism 21 

First Real Poems... 26 

Favorite Pen Names 29 

Poetic News Items 31 

As A Reader 39 

With A Medicine Show 41 

Dramatic Talent 42 

First Dialect Poem— "The Dreamer." 45 

Flattering Notice— Longfellow 52 

Another Poem— "Apple Time." 53 

Politics Eschewed 55 

As An Italian Harpist 57 

As An Artist 60 

Practical Joke— "End of the World" 62 

Scenes OF His Poems 68 

His Personal Appearance 86 



Illustrations. 



Portrait of J. W. Riley — Frontispiece. Pa<j:e. 

Autograph Letter 1 

Old National Road— 1840 7 

"June Time" 13 

Editor of "The News" 28 

^'The Dreamer" 47 

Engraving on Rules 63 

The "Old Swimmin'-Hole" 69 

The Other "Swimmin'-Hole" 73 

KiNGRY's Mill 75 

The "New Band" 79 

J. W. Riley's Birthplace 87 



Autograph Letter from James Whitcomh Riley. 






-Uv^ 






Inscription. 

Like spears of astral glints 
In radiant space, we see 
A generous soul's unconscious hints 
In all your minstrelsy. 

■^:' ^ i:? ^i ■ "JjS" •Ji* 

It is enough, old friend of mine; 

And here's my hand for auld lang syne. 

Wm. Colby Cooper, M. D. 



IMPRIMIS: 



While this little volume seeks to avoid 
the wordy circumlocution and fulsome flat- 
tery of ''space" writers, and the fawning that 
often crowns the victim of worldly success 

" With titles blown from adulation," 
each feature of the development of its sub- 
ject will receive the attention its character 
may require. Many of the theories of Mr. 
Riley's earlier work, either in journalism or 
poesy, are simple fakes, based mainly on the 
ignorance and imagination of the inventor. 
They are not indorsed by that gentleman, 
but merely tolerated, because any effort to 
refute or abate them would only have the 
effect to advertise the authors, and thereby 
encourage their shameless presumption. 



EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 

OF 

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 



My knowledge of James Whitcomb 

Riley before the War of the Rebellion, was 

quite limited. It was in the 

The humble village of Greenfield, 

Poet's Indiana, where he was born. 

Nativity. in 1852. That village then 

possessed little interest, other 

than being the seat of Hancock county. It 



6 RECOLLECTIONS 

was located about twenty miles east of Indi- 
anapolis. The house where Riley was born, 
still stands, just as it stood half a century 
ago, saving the addition of a handsome coat 
of paint and some pretty landscape adorn- 
ment. It is on the north side of the main 
street, originally the public highway known 
as the National Plank Road. The residence 
was then in the extreme west t)order of the 
village, but is now near the center of a very 
prosperous city of about 5,000 inhabitants. 
Where once the lumbering canvas-topped 
'^schooner" jolted and creaked along the 
rough corduroy, a fine traction line conveys 
passengers to and from the metropolis, and 
a trunk railroad transports the freight. 

Our subject, James Whitcomb, was the 
second son of Reuben A. Riley, a prominent 
lawyer of that county, with aspirations that 
were only half realized, and who, in the 




Thi Old y at zonal Road, at Greenfield. 



OF J. W. RILEY. 9 

organization of the Eighth Indiana Infantry 
Regiment for the "three months service," 
recruited a company, of which he was com- 
missioned as captain, and re-enlisting in the 
"three years service," in the Fifth Indiana 
Cavalry Regiment in the fall of 1861. 



10 RECOLLECTIONS 



It was during the summer of 1861 that 
the writer became a resident of Greenfield, 
and got acquainted with "Jim" 
Riley's Riley. He w^as then a small 
Boyhood, tow-headed urchin, with no in- 
dications of ''poetic fire," nor 
any other fire, save that which he produced 
annually, on the advent of our National hol- 
iday, with the aid of ''shootin'-crackers," or 
occasionally behind a "stoga" cigar. "Jim," 
as the coming poet was called by every one 
in that locality, had many accomplishments 
in common with the other boys — such as 
chewing tobacco, swimming and hunting for 
chipmunks and hornets' nests. In the first 
of these he excelled to an extent that made 



OF J. W. RILEY. 11 

him almost a hero among the smaller boys, 
whose experience in chewing was not allowed 
to advance much beyond slippery-elm bark 
and licorice-root. Such a fondness for the 
''weed" had he acquired, that there was no 
attraction great enough — no inducement of 
sufficient strength, to wean him from this 
habit. Whatever else occupied the atten- 
tion of others — whatever the ''druthers" of 
his fellows — best thing he liked was "on 'y 
jes tobacker," and while they descanted on 
the superior merits of mince-pie and pound- 
cake and "meller" apples and water-melon, 
he "jes chawed on," realizing that when he 
signified his preference among all the luxu- 
ries of earth, all the others would yield to 
him the unqualified meed. Indeed, it was 
known that he would much rather lie along 
the banks of Brandy wine Creek, with a fish- 
pole in his hand — or "set," rather, — than to 



12 RECOLLECTIONS 

saw the best cord of wood in the county. 

" jS^oon-tiiiie an' June-time, down around the river! 
Clean out o' sight o' home, an' skulkin' under kiver 
Of the sycamores, — 
All you want in all the world 's a little more tobacker !" 

"Jim" also had an inveterate hatred for 
schoolhouses ; and you may read about it all 
''between the lines," in many of his verses. 
It is said that his father ''cut him out" for a 
lawyer, but that pattern never fitted him 
comfortably, and he would rather disfigure 
store-boxes with a "marking-brush," or saw 
on an old fiddle he had acquired in some 
way, than to pore over Blackstone or Chitty 
any day. In his multitude of idyllic poems, 
many of the scenes of his youthful days are 
made to do service ; and to the reader who 
was familiar with such places as the "old 
swimmin'-hole," and "Kingry's mill," and 
"Brandy wine," and more than a hundred 




'^June Time. 



"Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! 
Clean out o' sight o' liome, an' skulkin' under kivver 
Of tile sycamores, jack-oaks, an' swamp-asli an' ellum — 
Idies all jumbled up, you kin hardly tell 'em ! — 
Tired, you know, but lovin' it, an' smilin' jes' to think 'at 
Any siveeter tiredness you'd fairly want to drink it ! 
Tired o' fishin' — tired o' fun — line out slack an' slacker- 
All you want in all the world's a little more tobacker ! " 



OF J. W. RILEY. 15 

other sacred spots about old Greenfield, Mr. 
Riley's little jingles recall a host of pleasant 
as well as sad memories. 



16 RECOLLECTIONS 



Prof. Lee 0. Harris was one of Riley's 
first teachers, and was known as the " Mas- 
ter Poet." " He was born in the 
The State of Pennsylvania, January 

Master 30, 1839, attended school, toiled 
Poet. in the fields, and roamed among 

the hills as did other boys. But 
the woods, the fields and the hills gave to 
him secrets they withheld from other boys. 
His ear was close to the heart of nature, and 
he heard and felt its throbbings in harmony 
with his own life . To him there was music 
in the murmur of the brook and the singing 
of the birds ; there was beauty in the fleecy 
cloud and modest flower ; there was wisdom 
in the rounded pebble and the opening bud ; 



OF J. W. RILEY. 17 

and there was grandeur in the forest and in 
the gathering storm." His service as teach- 
er was broken by his service in the Union 
army, in which he attained to the rank of 
major in the Indiana Legion. He is now — 
1902— Superintendent of Schools of Hancock 
county, and lives in a handsome residence 
in Greenfield. Of Riley he says : " Not all 
the time he spent in school was given up to 
study, as his old text-books will show. Their 
margins and fly-leaves are filled with weird 
pictures drawn by him to illustrate the won- 
derful visions that were passing through his 
brain. He quit school altogether at fifteen." 
He also admits his inability to impregnate 
the youthful mind of 'Mini" with the prin- 
ciples of arithmetic and grammar, and his 
surprise at finding that instead of diving 
into the mysteries of the multiplication ta- 
ble, he was engineering a scheme for diving 



18 RECOLLECTIONS 

into the creek or of going fishing. Riley was 
quite indifferent in spelling ; but his experi- 
ence in newspaper work was a valuable fac- 
tor in advancing him in this much neglected 
accomplishment. His greater proficiency in 
word construction, however, was doubtless 
derived from later contact with the ablest 
writers, whose productions he devoured with 



OF J. W. RILEY. 19 



The earliest fruit of Riley's poetic genius 
was probably in a little collection of nursery 
rhymes, similar to the '^ Mother 
Riley \s Goose" melodies, which he com- 
First , posecl when he was a mere boy, 
Book. for the diversion of his little in- 
valid sister. The child was only 
about four or five years old, and was very 
bright ; and to amuse her the booklet was 
composed. It consisted of childish rhymes, 
and was written with a pen, in imitation of 
printing, on linen leaves about four by six 
inches. On the upper left-hand corner of 
each page was a well-executed medallion the 
size of a silver dollar, illustrating the subject 
of the verses. This, the very first of Riley's 



20 RECOLLECTIONS 

books, was doubtless worn out by the child, 
and thrown into the fire. 

When the writer entered the army, in 
1861, he lost sight of 'Mim," but when he 
returned, in 1866, the illustrious subject of 
this paper had grown to be quite a big boy, 
with a strong predilection for Prince Albert 
coats and broad-legged pants. It was after 
this that our subject ran away from home, to 
join a patent-medicine faker, who traveled 
through the country in a large wagon, hand- 
somely decorated, and gave concerts in the 
chief towns included in the itinerary. Most 
of the time ''Jim" beat the bass drum and 
scattered. circulars along the streets. 



OF J. W. RILEY. 21 



In December, 1874, Wra. R. Hartpence 
bought the Greenfield Neivs, a weekly paper, 
devoted to the interests of the 
The Poet town and county, particularly 
Affects of the Republican party and 

Journalism, the editor. The town had in- 
creased greatly in every way 
since the writer made his first appearance in 
it, and Riley was now doing house and sign 
painting, and had also made several modest 
attempts at poetizing. About this time he 
wrote ''Leonainie," that was for a long time 
attributed to Edgar A. Poe, and was claimed 
to have been found written on a fly-leaf of a 
book once in Poe's possession. The fancy 
trade signs, for which Rliey claimed almost 



22 RECOLLECTIONS 

originality, were of the style then known as 
the ''bracket," and will be mentioned further 
on. The statement in Charles Dudley War- 
ner's popular ^^ Library of the World's Best 
Liter at lire,''' of Mr. Riley's "coming back to 
Greenfield to do some experimental journal- 
ism on a local paper, the failure of which 
sheet sent him to Indianapolis," is mislead- 
ing, and is quite incorrect in more respects 
than one. The local paper continued to be 
published long after Riley severed his rela- 
tion with it. His first efi'orts were rejected 
by the Indianapolis papers, while he was on 
Hartpence's paper, because they were not up 
to the standard of exceedingly high-toned 
literary (?) publications, just as thousands of 
others, equally good — aye, as good as Riley 
now writes, or ever wrote — are refused, sim- 
ply because the faddists who rule the fashion 
in literature, will not have it any other way ; 




The Editor of ''The Greenfield News''— 1^1^, 



OF J. W. RILEY. 25 

and publishers are compelled to print what 
they are most sure they can sell. 

The little one-storey frame building in 
which the News was printed, remains just as 
it was then, two doors south of the old Ma- 
sonic Hall, save that it is used as a harness 
shop now. 



26 RECOLLECTIONS 



Very few, of the thousands of readers 
of these notes of early recollections of the 
Hoosier poet — of those days when 
First the aura of the divine afflatus that 
Real shone about this most favored of 
Poems. Indiana's poets, was not observed 
by very many outside of Hancock 
county — can realize that there was a period 
when his modest rhymes were criticised with 
the same heartless unfairness that as a rule 
meets the early blossoming of every intellec- 
tual giant. It has been a long time since 
the exquisite simplicity of some of his first 
tender lines were comprehended and appre- 
ciated by the unpretentious Kohomo Dispatch, 
which in the fall of 1877 printed ''What the 



OF J. W. RILEY. 27 

Wind Said," but the rhythmic strains of that 
charming poem yet ring in ears that to most 
of earth's melodies are dull, and that listen 
for the "whispering of the zephyrs," while 
retrospection paints the delicious repose the 
poet alone could find in the bosom of nature. 
What is sweeter than this : 

"■ I muse to-day in a listless way, 

In the gleam of a summer land ; 
I close my eyes as a lover may 

At the touch of his sweetheart's hatid ; 
And I hear these things in the whisperings 

Of the zephyrs 'round me fanned." 

Some poet has said : ''Language, to be 
beautiful, like statuary, should be naked." 
In these lovely lines, there is certainly the 
simplicity of the chaste undraped marble — 
the graceful curves of thought perpetuated 
in a monument more enduring than the rock. 
Some of these words are borrowed from an 
able newspaper ''review" of the above date. 



28 RECOLLECTIONS 

The reviewer concluded at length, that ''Mr. 
Riley deserves to be considered a poet." A 
great many critics of the distinguished poet 
have since been forced to a like conclusion . 



OF J. W. RILEY. 29 



Mr. Riley had not written much prior to 
that time ; a few dialect scraps that were im- 
puted to ''John C. Walker" and 
Favorite ''Benj. F. Johnson, of Boone" — 
Pen two of his favorite pen-names — 

Names. being published in Indianapolis 
and Kokomo papers. ''The Old 
Swimmin'-Hole," one of these, produced a 
real sensation when it appeared. It was fol- 
lowed by the publication of a letter from the 
supposed author of the poem, explaining it, 
written in the manner of a very impressive, 
but, as he himself expressed it, "noneduca- 
ted" old man, whose home was in the then 
benighted region of Boone county, Indiana. 
Doubtless, much that would now make very 



30 RECOLLECTIONS 

interesting reading, was destroyed before it 
met the public eye. Yet it was a very good 
apprenticeship, as Warner says, 'Ho acquire 
the firm technique, the grasp on the art of 
verse-making which he now possesses." 



OF J. W. RILEY. 31 



Riley had been engaged in making him- 
self generally useful around the JVews office, 
and frequently contributed little 
Poetic news items to the local columns. 
Neius The editor evinced an interest in 
Items, the young man ; and to incite the 
latent talent Riley seemed to pos- 
sess, placed his name at the top of the local 
department of the paper, and assigned him 
to the collection of town talk, and soliciting 
advertisements. In the latter art he did not 
prove a magnificent success, as the rival pa- 
per, one of old standing, and having a much 
wider circulation, and a political "pull" that 
extended to nearly every business house in 
the town, was considered a sufficient vehicle 



32 RECOLLECTIONS 

to convey the announcements of the aston- 
ishing bargains offered. These conditions 
came to be materially changed in the course 
of the following year ; but for many weeks 
"Jim" was unable to earn his salary, though 
it was quite small enough. Yet, he did not 
despair, but continued to warble, in j oiliest 
glee, the merits of all kinds of merchandise. 

Here are some specimens : 

" Willow ware, rich and rare, — 
Buy the babe a nursery chair, 
at the West End Cabinet Sliop." 

He varied this, shortly after, by 
"Those elegant designs 
Of a hundred styles and kinds 
Of Furniture one finds 
at the West End Cabinet Siiop." 

A competing firm heralded its products 

in this way : 

" Me and my little old man fell out; 
I'll tell you what 't was all about : 



OF J. W. RILEY. 33 

He went to the city and bought some Furniture, 
And it cost him twice as much as it would have 

cost him hyur, 
at Williams Bros., and Hamilton's." 

The dialect of that province favored the 
pronunciation of the last word hyur. 

Reflecting on the superior merits of one 
style of bureau made at the first-named fac- 
tory, the readers were assured that — 

"You'll find true happiness just biegun, 
When you buy your little wifey one." 

George Dove was a gentlemanly shoe- 
maker of the town, and he came in also for 
a little poetic attention in one of the earlier 
issues : 

" HE WAS RIGHT. 

' It's my opinion,' said Farmer Gray, 
As he drove in town one Christmas day, 
' Of all the gifts, there's none that suits 
A boy as well as a pair of boots; ' 
and so he drove to Dove's, and made the purchase." 



34 RECOLLECTIONS 

About another merchant, who had laid 
in a fine Christmas stock, the bard poured 
forth as follows : 

"There are Bracelets rare, 
Aud Combs for the hair, 
Bohemian Vases aud Caskets and Rings, 
And ghttering Jewels, and thousands of things 
too numerous to phantasmagorialate, without de- 
teriorating from the vocabulary dictions." 

The intimate cause or inspiration of this 
extravagant flight, was in the prevalence of 
*' spelling-bees," that operated on the mind 
of Riley pretty much as a circus will affect 
a boy, setting him to walking upon the top 
board of a fence, or ''skinning the cat" on 
every awning-frame or the limbs of trees, for 
the next week or two following. 

Just before the following Christmas, the 
bakery of Mr. Griffith was hooked onto this 
effusion : 



OF J. W. RILEY. 35 

" ' Old Santa Claus is comin<? ! ' 

The shout goes around ; 
And the beautiful snow 

Will soon cover the ground. 
And the dear little fellows 

Will climb up to your ear, 
And ask if old Santa 

Will ever be here, 
With his reindeer, and sleigh 

Full of beautiful toys. 
Great dolls for the girls, 

And bright sleds for the boys." 

Shortly after this, a Mr. Dennis opened 

a store on a back street ; and the following 

was perpetrated : 

"To be sung by a Ijady of this City at the Cen- 
tennial Fair: 

O, tell me no more 

Of the Maui Street store; 
The time for such trifles with me now is o'er. 

A store I have found 

Where cheap goods abound, 
There to buy I'm determined. 

When r go around. 



36 RECOLLECTIONS 

To the place where Deiiiiis sells so cheap, 
At No. 15, South State Street." 

To which was afterward added : 
'Though gently scan 
Your brother man, 
Still gentler, sister woman ; 
Though both may stray 
Out of the right way, 
To step aside is human. 
Then step to 15 South State Street, 
Where all their goods are sold so cheap." 

This choice morsel also appeared on the 
"firing line :" 

''The deepest ice that ever froze, 
Can only o'er the surface close ; 
The living stream lies quick below, 
And flows, and cannot cease to flow; 
So flows the Cheap Store, South State Street, 
Where J. L. Dennis sells so cheap." 

Scattered among the local columns were 

these : 

"Of all the stores, the cheapest one 
Is the grocery store of Carr & Son." 



OF J. W. RILEY. 37 

Another : 

" ' Write me a rhyme ot' the present time;' 

And the poet thus begun : 
'A cheap bazaar for a good cigar, 

Is the store of Carr & Son.' " 

Another ran on thus : 

"Sweet is the sound, when oft at evening's close, 
When tired mechanic to the market goes. 
And hears the price of coflfee, sugar, tea, 
At J. H. Carr & Son's new groceree." 

Another firm ordered this : 

"O, where — tell me where 

Shall I buy my winter wear? ' 

And a voice answered ' There ! 

At the store of Hart & Thayer, 

Where 

They deal so fair 

And square. 

You'll be tickled, I'll declare ! ' " 

And this : 

*' Hootsy- tootsy, I declare ! 
See the purties everywhere — 



38 RECOLLECTIONS 

Little baby wants a pair 
Shoesy-woosy, Hart & Thayer." 

And so on, for quantity. As the winter 
came on, it was announced thus : 

"Winter weather, more and more — 
Blow your nose, and shut the door." 



OF J. W. RILEY. 39 



One of Mr. Riley's first experiences as a 
reader, occurred at Indianapolis, during the 
first month of his connection with 
As a the News. This was on Christmas 
Reader. Eve, December 24, 1874, at a so- 
cial entertainment given by the 
Third Presbyterian Church of that city. It 
is not likely that his numbers were confined 
to his own productions, as he had then very 
few that were, in his estimation, ^'fittin' " for 
such occasion. The writer remembers also 
that on the following '' Decoration Day," in- 
stead of a poem of his own creation, Riley 
recited Carleton's " Cover Them Over M^ith 
Beautiful Flowers." This was done in the 
cemetery at Greenfield, and was executed in 



40 RECOLLECTIONS 

a style that affected the stoutest hearts who 
heard it. ' ' Hot tears blinded their eyes, and 
smothered sobs shook their frames." It was 
even more so, when, afterwards, Riley read 
his own verses ; and it is proper to say right 
here, that no one but Riley himself can read 
Riley right. 



OF J. W. RILEY. 41 



Some time in 1875, another '^medicine 
man" — it must have been another — organ- 
ized a troupe for a ''season" in 
With a the Sunny South. Our "Jim" 
Medicine was a fair to middling violinist, 
Show. and he was secured as leader of 
the orchestra ; several other boys 
about town being also included. Riley also 
did his bit in funny talk, and, with the hap- 
piest humor in the world, immediately made 
a hit. In caricature, indeed, he was almost 
inimitable. When he returned home, about 
Christmas time, he "beamed in on us, look- 
ing like a Russian count," in his great fur- 
trimmed coat, and suit to match. 



42 RECOLLECTIONS 



Along with Riley, a number of kindred 
spirits, some of whom possessed superior his- 
trionic talent, at once organized 
Dramatic a dramatic and musical enter- 
Talent. tainment, for the benefit of the 
poor of that town. This was a 
worthy custom of those people ; the perform- 
ers mostly consisting ot members of the best 
society. On one special occasion, the names 
of Mrs. Mellie Wills, Mrs. Belle Lawrence, 
Mrs. Nellie Cooley, Misses Nellie Newhall, 
Hattie Thayer and Mary Barnett, Riley, War 
Barnett, (one of the '/old band,") and the 
writer appeared prominently. It was the 
misfortune of two of the ladies to be taken 
ill quite suddenly, during the program, with 



OF J. W. RILEY. 43 

some indisposition. When this was discov- 
ered, at the last minute, Riley Avas filled with 
dismay, as all of the actors, save himself and 
the writer, were dressing for a farce, that was 
to follow the two numbers so suddenly inter- 
rupted. Rushing across the stage, he almost 
roared out, '^ My Lord ! Ridge way, what do 
you know? Think of something quick ! " 

''Why, what's the matter?" 

"Lord ! two of the ladies to come on next, 
have both gone home, sick. Gee ! hurry up, 
and — ah, here, I have it ! Move tliat stand 
up against the curtain ; " — as he grabbed a 
large linen duster, that suggested the idea to 
him ; — "now get down under here ! " And 
Ridge way got his face close to Riley's back, 
and thrust his arms under those of Riley, as 
the latter threw the linen duster over both, 
and fastened the top button at his throat. 
Pulling off liis boots, and planting his own 



44 RECOLLEC'TIONS 

hands in them, like feet, on the stand, and 
Ridgeway's hands taking the place of his, — 
in this guise the " double-man" faced an as- 
tonished audience, when the curtain rose. 
A single word from Riley gave Ridgeway his 
cue ; and while the latter made the gestures, 
Riley delivered the most remarkable address 
that was ever heard from that platform. He 
wound up with some extravagant reflections 
on the life and labors of George Washington. 
In an eff'ort at a suitable peroration, he lost 
the thread, and when the excited right hand, 
after sawing the air wildly in its confusion, 
slipped a finger into Riley's vest-pocket, and 
fished out a mint lozenge, it popped the con- 
feet into the orator's mouth, to Riley's con- 
sternation, but to the frantic delight of the 
audience, that yelled itself hoarse, while the 
curtain fell. 



OF J. W. RILEY. 45 



In the issue of the News of May B, 1875, 

and in the Hearth and Home appeai*ed ahuost 

First simultaneously, one of the first of 

Dialect Mr. Riley's productions that ever 

Poem . secured recognition outside of his 

native State. It was entitled — 

THE FARMER DREAMER. 



By James W. Riley 



He was a dreamer of the (iays : 

Indolent as a lazy breeze 

In rnidsumnner, that idly lies 

And lolls about in the shade of trees. 

Tlie farmer turned — as he passed him by 

Under the hillside where he kneeled 



46 RECOLLECTIONS 

Plucking a flower — a scornful eye, 
And rode ahead in the harvest field, 
Wondering. And rumor said, 
Tapping witli finger a shaking liead — 
'' Got such a cuiious kind o' way ; 
Would n't surprise me much, I say ! " 
laying prone, with upturned gaze, 
Idly dreaming away liis days. 
No companions? Yes, a book 
Sometimes under his arm he took 
To read aloud to a lonesome brook ; 
And schoolboys, truant, once had heard 
A strange voice chanting, faint and dim — 
Followed the echoes, and found li him. 
Perched in a tree- top, like a bird. 
Singing clean from the highest limb; 
And, fearfully awed, they all slipped by, 
To wonder in whispers if he could fly. 
" Let him alone," his father said, 
When the village teacher came to say, 
" He took no part in his books to-day — 
Only the lessons the readers read — 
His mind seems sadl.y going astray ! " 
"Let him alone! " came the mournful tone, 
And the father's grief in liis sad eyes shone 




The "Fanner Jheanter 



OF J. W. RILEY. 49 

Hiding his tace in his treaibhiiLi: hand — 
Moaning, "I would I could understand! 
But, as God wills it, I accept. 
Uncomplaining." So he wept. 

Tiien went " the Dreamer" as he willed, 
As uncontrolled as a light sail, tiHed, 
Flutters about with an empty boat 
Loosed from its fastenings and afloat; 
Drifted out of the busy quay 
Of <lull school-moorings listlessly; 
Drifted off on the talking breeze, 
All alone with his reveries; 
Drifted on as his fancies wrought-— 
Out on the mighty gulfs of thought. 

PART TWO. 

The farmer came in the evening gray 
And took the bars of the pasture down, 
Called to the cows in a coaxing way, — 
" Bess " and '' Lady " — white and brown ; 
While they paused with a wide-eyed stare. 
As though siu'prised at his coming there. 
Till another tone, in a higher key. 
Brought their obeyance loathfully. 



50 



RECOLLECTIONS 

Then, as he slowly turned and swung 
The topmost bar to its proper rest, 
Something fluttered along, and clung 
A moment, shivering at his breast — 
A wind-seared fragment of legal cap, 
Which darted again, as he struck his iiand 
Upon his breast with a sudden slap, 
And hurried sailing across the land. 

But, as it clung, he had caught the glance 
Of a little penciled countenance, . 
And a glamour of written words; and hence, 
A moment later, over the fence, 
"Here and there gone astray 
Over the hills and far away," 
He chased it into a thicket of trees. 
And took it away from the captious breeze. — 
A scrap of paper, witli a rhyme 
Written there of summer time; 
A jjencil sketch of a dair3^ maid 
Under a farm-house porch's shade. 
Working merrily ; and was blent 
Into lier features such sweet content, 
That a song she sung in the lines below. 
Made it most beautif ' ly apropos : 



OF J. W. RILEY. 51 

SONG. 

" Why do I sing — Tra-la-la-la-la — 

Glad as a king? — Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Well, since you ask, I have such a pleasant task, 

I cannot help but sing! 

Why do I smile — Tra-la-la-la-la— 

Working the while?— Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Work like this is play, so I'm playing all the day; 

I cannot help but smile ! 

So, if you please— ^Tra-la-la-la-1 a — 

Live at your ease — Tra-la-la-la-la! 

You've only got to turn, 

And you see it's bound to churn — 
It can not help but please! " 
The farmer pondered and scratched his head ; 
Reading again each mystic word, 
*' Some of the Dreamer's work ! " he said — 
''Ah, here's more!" The good man read, 
" Patent applied for July third. 
Eighteen hundred and seventy-four!" 
The fragment fell from his nervous grasp. 
His awed lips thrilled witli tlie joyous gasp ; 
"I see the p'int to the whole concern ; — 
He's made a patent on a churn ! " 



52 RECOLLECTIONS 



It was about this time that Mr. Riley re- 
ceived a letter from the famed poet Longfel- 
low, in reply to several of Mr. 
Flattering Riley's effusions which he had 
Notice. sent to him, and that elicited 

some complimentary remarks. 
Riley showed the letter to the writer , in con- 
fidence. It closed wdth the assurance to the 
tyro that he surely possessed the "true poetic 
faculty and insight." 



OF J. W. RILEY. 53 



Several anonymous poems appeared in 
the Greenfield Nevjs during that year, which 
bore ''ear-marks" so like those 
Another of our subject, that they were re- 
Poem, garded as his, and published as 
such, though credited according 
to the ''copy." It is still uncertain as to the 
identity of some of them. One, entitled "A 
Destiny," was printed in Hearth and Home, 
accompanied by three excellent illustrations. 
Another that the writer recalls, w^as "Apple 
Time," and ran as follows : 

'' Shower-time, flower-titne — 

Earth is new and fair; 
May-time, hay-time— 

Blossoms everywliere. 



54 RECOLLECTIONS 

Nest time, best time — 

Songs of bird and bee ; 
But of all the gay times, 

Apple-time for me. 
Wheat time, sweet time 

In the closing year ; 
Sheaf-time, leaf-time 

Now will disappear. 
Ice-time, nice time 

For a merry lad ; 
Snow-time, blow-time — 

Earth is lone and sad. 
Yellow ones and mellow ones 

Drooping from the tree; 
Rusty- coats and pippins — 

Apple-time for me." 

Later on, in the same year, Riley ''took 
his pen in hand " to compete for a prize in 
an original centennial poem contest. It was 
to have been published in the News, but as it 
failed to materialize, its fate is not known. 



OF J. W. RILEY. 55 



In the ''Centennial Tea Party," held at 
Greenfield, in 1875, Mr. Riley appeared in 
the masquerade, costumed as 
Politics " Uncle Sam." His patriotism 
Escheived. was also exemplified in a great 
many other ways, but he very 
seldom descended to politics. He insisted 
that it was no part of his fort. The follo^v- 
ing, directed to a candidate for gubernatorial 
honors, may, perhaps, be regarded as about 
the worst he ever did in that line. That was 
what probably defeated the said candidate : 
"There is an 'old war-horse' named Sanders, 
Who swears like 'our army in Flanders' 
That a statesman he'll die; 
80 his head he holds hij^h, 
And snorts like a horse with the "landers." 



56 RECOLLECTIONS 

Riley may even deny this, now, and lay 
it onto the editor. 



OF J. W. KTLEY. 57 



The ''^olian Club," a local musical so- 
ciety, of which Riley and the writer were 
members, arranged for a series 
Italian of concerts for the benefit of the 
Harpist, poor, in the early part of Janu- 
ary, 1875, that proved very suc- 
cessful. In some of these entertainments, 
Mr. Riley exhibited his ability not only as a 
musician, but also in the invention of stage 
properties. There was a small Italian col- 
ony quartered in the tow^n, that during the 
pleasant months traveled about the country 
with harps and violins, returning to Green- 
field for the winter. This suggested some- 
thing original for the next concert. Out of 
some thin store-boxes and cotton wrapping- 



58 RECOLLECTIONS 

chord, Riley constructed a liarp that would 
have deceived an Italian himself. The stand 
and strings were gilded in the finest style of 
the art, with which Riley was also quite fa- 
miliar. At the same time, he instructed a 
four-year-old boy in '' sawing" a greasy bow 
over the strings of an old violin, in imita- 
tion of one of the Italian boys. Taking po- 
sition on the stage, dressed exactly like the 
Italians, parts of whose garb they had bor- 
rowed for the occasion, Riley and the child 
picked and " sawed" on their instruments, 
while carefully hidden behind the " flats/' 
the leader of the orchestra and the pianist 
supplied the music. Nor did the audience 
discover the clever deception, until some one 
in the secret ''gave it away." The encore 
that followed was tremendous. At the con- 
clusion, the harper, (in jargon,) directed the 
boy-fiddler to go down through the audience 



OF J. W. RILEY. 59 

with his cap, and the collection he took up 
rivalled the ticket-office receipts. 

Riley's knowledge of music did not ex- 
tend very far beyond the use of an ancient 
violin, from which he succeeded in extract- 
ing more discordant sounds than had ever 
emanated before from even the felines from 
which the strings were derived. 



60 RECOLLECTIONS 



As has been said before, Riley was an 
artist of no mean order ; and the manner in 

which he wrote and decorated 
An Artist, a sign, was remarkable. He 

was the first one, in that sec- 
tion at least, to make the dainty ''bracket" 
signs, that became all the rage, and the first 
to put on the various colors all at once, as 
he proceeded with his work. He hung out 
his own sign over old Dr. Thornton's drug 
store, as ''Fancy Painter, Delineator and Car- 
icaturist," and some of his advertisements in 
the Ne/ws were specimens of his own poetic 
wit. Here is one of them : 

"Fine! Fine ! ! SUPERFINE ! ! ! 
Paints an(i oils and turpentine : 



OF J. W. KILEV. 61 

These, to properly combine, 
Must be seen upon a sign — 
Peerless beauty and design. 
Painted by a friend of mine 

Who boasts the name of Riley," 



62 RECOLLECTIONS 



In this line he traversed all the roads 
leading out of Greenfield, and many others 
that intersected, writing business 
Practical cards on the fences ; occasionally 
Joke. taking a job of all-round paint- 
ing. Prior to this he had devel- 
oped a form of engraving on metal, that re- 
sembled in some respects what is known as 
photo-engravure . The writer preserved, and 
has still, two pieces of brass ''column-rule," 
on the sides of which Riley engraved various 
quaint designs, the ''face" of it being raised 
almost as high as ordinary wood engraving. 
While out on one of his painting tours in the 
neighboring villages, he stopped a short time 
in New Palestine. Immediately following 



Engraving on brass rules, by J. W. Riley, in 
the office of the Greenfield News. 





OF J. W. RILEY. 65 

his departure therefrom, the good people of 
that hamlet were thrown into a high state 
of excitement, over a discovery of jnarvelous 
character. An old lady went to her henne- 
ry to gather eggs, as was her usual custom, 
and found there a large number of eggs, as 
was also usual. But there was one of them 
so strangely marked, as to excite her aston- 
ishment. There were raised letters on one 
side of that egg, resembling the characters 
used by the blind, as clearly defined as the 
face of types, that read : — 

Glory to God in the Highest. 

Prepare for His coming, for the end 

draw^eth near. 

To say that the citizens of that hamlet 
were amazed, would but feebly describe the 
quality of sensation that possessed the souls 
of the entire community. They were fairly 



66 RECOLLECTIONS 

paralyzed with an indefinable fear and dread 
of the awful doom that seemed impending. 
Hundreds rushed to the house, to gaze upon 
the wonderful freak of nature-^ for such it 
evidently was ; aye, more — a miracle ; and 
then hurried off home, to set their houses in 
order — to post their books and settle up all 
outstanding accounts. Some of the less su- 
perstitious, however, sought an explanation 
in a more philosophic postulate ; and when 
it was discovered to be only a result of the 
application of Riley's wonderful process of 
engraving, it would have been equivalent to 
a slice of the judgment day, to our ''Jim," 
to visit that neighborhood. But the more 
credulous continued to make ready for the 
catastrox3he. 

One of Riley's specialties was a series 
of odd rebuses, gotten up by a man named 
Crane — a man not distinguished for wit, but 



OF J. W. RILEY. 67 

possessing a marked measure of commercial 
ingenuity and enterprise, and a Cyrano de 
Bergerac nose, and who applied his rebuses 
to the advertising of various kinds of mer- 
cantile industries. The writer has among a 
collection of antiquities several specimens 
of these plates, that may be seen by any one 
without extra charge. 



68 RECOLLECTIONS 



Many other things might be mentioned, 
showing Mr. Riley's various characteristics, 
that of themselves were unimport- 
Scenes ant, viewed from any other point. 
Of His Many of his best poems may, pev- 
Poems. hax^s, be better understood and es- 
timated by familiar knowledge of 
the times and people and circumstances with 
which they were associated in Riley's mind. 
Many of these were as familiar to the writer 
as are the hillsides and creeks and favorite 
retreats of the younkers of any country-side. 
Many a delicious bath has he enjoyed in the 
'^old swimrain'-hole" in old " Brandy wine," 
a small stream that flowed about half-a-mile 
east of Greenfield, and emptied into " East 




TJte "Old Swimmin^ Hole.^' 



OF J. W. RILEY. 71 

Fork," a few miles below town ; that in turn 
discharged into ''White River," that in the 
southwest corner of the State still finds out- 
let in '' the AVabash far away." " Brandy- 
wine" is likewise known as " Swamp Creek," 
and these, with " Blue River," a few miles 
further east, and having the same destiny, 
are all immortalized in some of the Hoosier 
poet's lyrics. The ''old swimmin' hole" was 
in fact two-fold, and some question has been 
raised as to which should take precedence. 
Both of these localities are reproduced here, 
and the reader can take his choice. By the 
courtesy of Mr. W. B. Cuyler, the photogra- 
pher at Greenfield, we present, in the view 
bearing his imprint, the place designated to 
him by Mr. Riley as the one he had in view 
when he wrote that poem. " Kingry's mill" 
stood near here, its old-fashioned wheel sus- 
pended lazily over a little "race," the supply 



72 RECOLLECTIONS 

of which came from a dam two or three hun- 
dred ^yarcls above, that formed a part of the 
boundary of the ''old swimmin'-hole." Can 
you not see the old mill as it then stood, and 
its double doors, the upper halves of which 
were usually open, and served also as a win- 
dow? And 

"The old miller, with his cheer, 

Leanin' at the winder-sill ; 
Swoppin' lies, an' pokin' fun. 

An' jigglin' like his hoppers done." 

Away up under the curb-gable projected the 
beam, witli its pulley and rope, by which the 
bags of grain were drawn up from the farm 
wagons below, and the flour and meal and 
''ship-stuff" was lowered into the vehicles. 
Hundreds of other scenes are just as fresh ; 
and when the old citizen returns to his boy- 
hood home, from the far West, and hones to 
" hear the old band play," one can see that 
now famous organization, as those old-time 




The Other ^' Siimnmin'-Hole.'^ 




' ' Kingri/s Mill . " — From Recollection . 



OF J. W. RILEY. 77 

fellows rounded up at the corner near " Billy 
Goodin's" home — ''Billy," who was eter- 
nally ''a-eatin', an' a-eatin', an' a-eatin' ! " 
There was Hi. Kerns, the fat and jolly car- 
penter, who played on one of these French 
horns, that w^ound about him like a " moon- 
shine" still. He was a good carpenter, too, 
but his sawing and planing and hammering 
did not unfit him for blowing his part well. 
And tall, good-natured Bill Lindsey, with a 
horn almost as long as himself. Lindsey, 
if the writer remembers rightly, was occu- 
pied, in the way of a livelihood, in the art 
of plastering ; and he even made music as 
he nailed on the lath, or smeared on slimy 
mortar. But when he came to a downright 
effort at real hard work, in the " Greenfield 
Saxe-Horn Band," let him once get fairly 
aroused on "John Brown's Body," or "Lily 
Dale," or ''Hazel Dell," and the sweat would 



78 RECOLLECTIONS 

drop from his face with a splash, like the 
drip from a leaky eave-trough. 

" It 's mighty good to git back to the old town, sliore ! 
Considerin' I've ben away twenty year and more. 
Sence I moved then to Kansas, of course I see a change, 
A-comin' back, and notice things that's new to me 

and strange ; 
Especially atevenin', when yer new band fellers meet, 
In fancy uniforms and all, and play out on the street — 
"•■ * What's come of old Bill Lindsey and the 

Sax' -horn fellers — say ? 

I want to hear the old band play. 
What's come of Eastman and Nat Snow? 

And Where's War Barnett at ? 
And Nate and Bony Meek, Bill Hart, Tom Richa'son 

and that 
Air brother of him played the drum as twicet as big 

as Jim ; 
And old Hi Kerns, the carpenter — say, what's become 

o' him? 
I make no doubt yer neiv band now 's a competenter 

band, 
And plays their music more by note than what they 

play by hand. 



I 



t: 




'^^^ 


A 


•^ 


«^S/.1« 


^' * 


fill iiti ifl 

Hi! m m 

1 wm 



^^^'- 



The ''New Band 



OF J. W. RILEY. 81 

And stylisher and grander tunes ; but i;omehow — any 

way 

I want to hear the tlie old band play. 
Sich tunes as 'Joiin Brown's -Body,' and ' Sweet Ahce', 

don't you know; 
And 'The Campbell's is A-comin',' and 'John Ander- 
son, My Jo; ' 
And a dozent others of 'em — 'Number Nine' and 

' Number 'Leven' 
Was fav-rites that fairly made a feller dream of heaven. 
And when the boys 'd saranade, I've laid so still in bed 
I've even heerd the locus' blossoms droppin' on th' shed 
When ' Lily Dale' er ' Hazel Dell ' had sobbed and died 

away — 

I want to hear the old band play. 

The neiv band maybe beats it, but the old band 's what 

I said — 
It alius 'peared to kind o' cord with somepin' in my 

head ; 
And, whilse I'm no musicianer, when my blame eyes 

is jes 
Nigh drownded out, and Mem'ry squares her jaws, an' 

sort o' says 
She won't ner never will fergit, I want to jes turn in 
And take and light right out o' here and git back West 



82 RECOLLECTIONS 

AikJ Stay there, when I git there, where I never have 
to say, 
' I want to liear the old band play ! ' " 

Eastman was the teacher and leader of 
the ''old band," as he also was of the new 
one. He also taught classes both in instru- 
mental and vocal music, and on one occa- 
sion produced the oratorio of '' Esther, the 
Beautiful Queen," at Greenfield, in which 
the writer had the honor of being cast as 
"King." It is not recollected, now, what 
part Riley took. Nat Snow^ another of the 
"old band," was one of the sons of "a fine old 
gentleman" who kept a notion store. Henry, 
or Hal, as he was familiarly known, was a 
brother to Nat, and was a dashing lieuten- 
ant in the volunteer army ; both were quite 
popular in the social circles of that village. 
Nate and Bony Meek, whose proper names 
were Nathaniel and Bonaparte, were cous- 



OF J. W. RILEY. 83 

ins, and resided in the large old comfortable 
mansion just opposite Masonic Hall. ''Bill" 
Hart was the son of Andrew T. Hart, an ex- 
cellent gentleman, one of the most substan- 
tial merchants of the town, and one of the 
pillars of the Christian Church. Tom Rich- 
ardson was a cooper, and had his shop in the 
southern part of town, where he was assisted 
by " that air brother of him " — ''Jim," who 
^' played the drum as twicet as big " as him- 
self. The "old band " was, therefore, not a 
myth, but an actual organization, and Riley 
knew each member of it well. The tunes of 
"John Brown's Body," " Sweet Alice," "The 
Campbells are Coming," "John Anderson, 
my Jo," " Lily Dale" and " Hazel Dell " are 
yet fresh, and " Mem'ry won't ner never will 
fergit ;" they come trooping like ghosts from 
the "dreamy olden," and the old enthusiasm 
returns, as one seems to see the "old band" 



84 RECOLLECnONS 

in their miscellaneous outfit, and to hear the 
dear old simple airs, as they were rendered 
in a way that was absolutely incomparable 
with the purling and quavering and twitter- 
ing of any modern production. 
"Tt alius 'peared to kind o' cord with somepln' in iny 
head." 

The ''new band" was distinctive from 
the ''old band" in that most of the latter 
organization were young men. They also 
boasted of fine uniforms, and finally of an 
elaborate band wagon, in which they were 
wont to display themselves and their talent 
on every occasion that presented itself. It 
included, however, a part of the "old band," 
who are distinguishable in the engraving, to 
those who knew the individuals well. It is 
much to be regretted that we have not a pic- 
ture of the "old band," as we have of the 
new one ; but there is a satisfaction in being 



OF J. W. RILEY. 85 

able to identify four of the members of that 
organization, who also belonged to the new 
one. These are Isaac Davis, who sits with 
the driver in the picture ; John A. Riley, a 
brother of the poet, just behind the driver ; 
War Barnett in the center, with Hum Riley, 
another brother of James Whitcomb, beside 
him. Hum was then a little freckled-faced, 
red-headed lad, and was the mascot of the 
new band. The fourth member of the ''old 
band" who was transferred to the new one, 
is Thomas J. Carr, on the right-hand side 
of the back seat. He took Bill Lindsey's 
place in the former organization when Bill 
dropped out and moved out West, and now 
lives in New London, Mo. Mr. Carr is still 
a resident of Greenfield, as are also John A. 
Riley and Isaac Davis. The writer had the 
pleasure quite recently of visiting them at 
their homes. 



8G RECOLLECTIONS 



After Mr. Riley came into prosperity, 

he went to Greenfield and purchased the old 

family residence, that was so 

Personal very dear to him, and so full 

Appearance, of tender memories. He is a 

bachelor, however, and does 

not occupy it, preferring always a suite in a 

popular hotel. His personal appearance has 

been described thus : " In physical stature, 

he is below average height ; his complexion 

fair ; his hair has never changed from the 

flaxen whiteness of boyhood ; his eyes are 

large, light blue, wide open, and marvelous 

in their expression ; his face smooth-shaven, 

and his attire neat and fashionable." He is 

even proud of his appearance, and ofttimes 




Where James Wliitcomh Riley Was Born, 



OF J. W. RILEY. 89 

assumes a strutting air. And he is so accus- 
tomed to mimicking others, that frequently 
he will forget himself, and fall into his rural 
dialect in his ordinary conversation. He is 
genuinely witty, and is the very life of an 
old-fashioned evening "after-dinner" party. 
The old files of the paper on which Mr. 
Riley was employed are preserved in elegant 
binding, and they reveal hundreds of inci- 
dents from which he derived inspiration for 
many of his poems, and many equal in in- 
terest with those contained in this volume. 
These are given as an humble contibution to 
the merited praise of the world's favorite. 



THE END. 



JUL 16 



Ul 1902 



^UL. 25 1902 



^ 

» 






Mf 



